When such objects are carried by means of non-collapsible carts, the carts suffer from the major drawback of being difficult to carry in a private vehicle simultaneously with the objects with which they are associated.
That is why various carts have been proposed that are collapsible so that their bulk is greatly reduced while they themselves are being carried or stored prior to being used.
French patent document FR-A-2 575 430 describes a one-person collapsible cart intended, in particular, for carrying golf clubs. This cart is suitable for taking up a first, or collapsed portion in which it occupies little space laterally, and a second, or deployed working position in which it is sufficiently rigid to carry golf clubs. More specifically, this cart comprises a frame forming a central body with a bagcarrying strut and two half-axles hinged to the base thereof. In the deployed position, the two half-axles and the strut occupy the same horizontal plane with the central body being perpendicular to said plane. The cart is collapsed by means of a cursor sliding over the central body, said cursor being connected to the half-axles and to the strut by means of links: it is therefore necessary to begin by folding each of the wheels beneath the associated half-axle before collapsing the moving members onto the central body.
Collapsible carts of this type suffer from numerous drawbacks. Firstly, the necessity of having a cursor present means that there is a risk of it jamming and may be even preventing the cart from being collapsed normally. Further, the shafts of the wheels are hinged to the half-axles so that the wheels can be retracted, in order to reduce lateral bulk as much as possible. In addition to complicating operations, these hinges seriously weaken the rigidity of the cart in operation and therefore require additional locking means to be provided. Finally, the disposition of the cart in its deployed position gives rise firstly to extremely little ground clearance (about one wheel radius) which is a hindrance for use on rough ground, and secondly a very low position for the center of gravity which is relatively far away from the bag being carried, which is bad or equilibrium and for user comfort.
French patent document No. FR-A-2 491 420 describes another type of one-person collapsible cart. This cart comprises a frame in the form of a central riser extending generally vertically and having at least two, and preferably three legs mounted thereon suitable for folding against the frame and for being deployed radially: each of these legs is hinged at one end to a moving support slidably mounted on the frame and is also hinged via a link to the base of the frame. In addition, such a cart includes a lever which is hinged to the frame near the top thereof and which acts via at least one connecting rod to cause the moving support to slide so as to move the legs from their folded position to their deployed position, and vice versa.
Collapsible carts of the type described in FR-A-2 491 420 suffer from various drawbacks due specifically to their design, in particular they include a large number of relatively movable parts under the control of a single part, and this always leads to operating difficulties due to various hinges seizing. Further, the longitudinal extent of the cart when in the collapsed position remains relatively long.
Another type of collapsible one-person cart has also been proposed in which the central riser is partially telescopic, as described in European patent document EP-A-0 009 333.
This cart comprises a rigid central riser fitted with conventional means for fixing a golf bag and having two side legs hinged thereto. An extension of the central riser is slidably mounted therein and serves as a mounting for links connecting said extension to the side legs and connecting said side legs to each other: the cart is therefore collapsed by pushing home the telescopic extension like a piston rod, thereby returning the two side legs against the central riser.
The drawbacks mentioned above are present here also, due to the complexity of the structure, the risk of jamming during collapsing, and the relatively large residual bulk, both longitudinally and laterally.
The state of the art is finally illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2 714 012 and European patent No. 0 087 200 which describe collapsible carts.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a collapsible cart, intended more particularly for carrying golf clubs, which is capable of being easily operated over a long period of time while being simple in structure and relatively competitive in price, and without suffering from the above-mentioned drawbacks.
Another aim of the present invention is to provide a cart which is easy to pull in its deployed position and easy to carry in its collapsed position, in which position the cart is highly compact and sufficiently light to be easily carried by hand by a user.